When Game of Thrones roared onto our television screens a few years ago, the world immediately divided into those who had read the George R.R. Martin books that the series was based on and those who hadn’t.

It will be interesting to see if the world splits along similar lines when the television adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander bestselling novels hits screens Sunday at 11 p.m. on Showcase.

The books have long had dedicated readers hooked on the time-traveller romance, which would seem to be manna from heaven for the small screen.

Indeed, the romance, which could be titled The Luckiest Woman Ever, centres on the romantic entanglements of Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), who has not just one hot guy in her present life, but snags a second when she’s transported in time.

OK, maybe that’s not so great. Oy, the laundry!

The eight-part series, which debuted a few weeks ago on Starz in the U.S., opens in 1945 when combat nurse Claire has reunited with her husband Frank (Tobias Menzies) after the war has ended.

Both are scarred and trying to rekindle the love they felt before being separated for five years in their own corners of the bloody battle.

Things are looking good, though, as they have a romantic weekend in the Scottish countryside, poking around deserted old castles and trying to rekindle their spark.

Frank is a history buff and is also poking around old records and retracing his ancestry, all on the eve of the pagan festival we know as Halloween.

So then, funny thing, Claire awakes to find herself in 1743 to wonder if she’s stumbled upon some kind of historical re-enactment.

Nope, Claire. Things just got olden timey on you.

She soon comes across a man who looks like Frank, but is instead Jonathan (Black Jack) Randall, captain of His Majesty’s Eighth Dragoons, which, not surprisingly, blows her mind.

Her next meaningful encounter is with wounded rebel Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), thus sparking an emotionally complicated romance, which propels the dramatic arc of the tale.

As someone who has not read the books (yes, I’m one of THOSE people), I am not in a position to take a pro or con stance on the adaptation.

But as a standalone bit of entertainment, it’s very engaging, particularly Balfe’s Claire, who is the force of the drama.

An interest in history is also not mandatory as it’s a well-constructed love story that also centres on Claire’s struggle to survive the violent, confusing new world she’s found herself in.

As one person described it, it’s more Survivor than Back to the Future.

Lush and mystical, bloody and grimy, Outlanders is a mind-bending tale that will quickly lure you in.